08/13/2016

A few weeks ago I was in the City Cemetery here in McDonough, Georgia looking for the headstone of Cornelia Tomlinson, as requested by a descendant. I walked all over the section and eventually found her.

This absolutely, positively breaks my heart.

At first I was just angry at the city for allowing this to happen.

Second, I called around until I had a meeting with the mayor.

Then I had a meeting with the city administrator.

Now I have the go-ahead to start repairing the old section of the city cemetery, and will be researching and contacting as many descendants of the folk interred there as I can.

And that last part is kind of important. Apparently, a few years ago they were going to work on repairing the headstones. Some guy rode up and started yelling at them to get off his property. In the city cemetery. For someone that was buried. He didn’t want the stone fixed (it’s really mind-blowing, right?).

I will not only be charting the cemetery and doing repairs (with the help of a few people, and possibly some of the kids who like to destroy cemeteries –basically giving them a reason to stop and regret), but I will also be making headstones for two unknown people:

…as well as offer headstones for the people buried in the paupers section.

For more information on the two unidentified people, I found THIS LINK.

The first record is part of one I had already ordered and posted, but it didn’t have all of the information I had hoped to receive. This one does! The record gives me a birthday for Peter McQueen. Part of this records was already posted HERE, I will post it again:

06/20/2016

I spent pretty much all day working on the John B Smith family (his parents in particular). When I got to the point where I knew I had to stop for the day, I decided to go back to another favorite to research: the Para family.

And I made an exciting discovery! How I have missed this in the past year, I’m not sure. However, I found Giacomo Para’s headstone on Fine A Grave! It was originally posted by Dale Schaefer (#47452604) on March 15, 2015. The headstone reads:

J Para

Sept ? 1844

June 12, 1926

At the bottom of the stone is a cross lying on it’s side. I am not altogether sure of what this signifies. It appears that many people have wondered and it seems that many of these are Catholic graves. Answers that I have found point to the sideways cross symbolizing Jesus carrying it. If anyone knows, let me know!

Giacomo P “Jacob” Para

born Sept ? 1844 in Italy

died June 12, 1926 in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee

buried at Calvary Cemetery on Elvis Presley Boulevard

Photo courtesy of Dale Schaefer

Finishing this post up, I just noticed that Dale transferred the memorial to me!

06/06/2016

I can’t say that the brick wall that was broken is my brick wall necessarily, however it does include my ancestors. And therefore, my extended family.

Several years ago when I was researching Ezekiel Currey and Elizabeth Brownlee I came across a website that has a lot of Currey information (genealogies HERE and notes HERE). It was through this website that I was able to get into contact with Imogene Bennett, an absolutely lovely woman with whom I speak with roughly twice per year.

Imogene has searched for so many years for evidence that Ezekiel and Elizabeth had a daughter named Jane who married a man named David Wood. Not having found any documentation to prove that Jane was a Currey, I mentioned that mtDNA could be used IF we could find a direct maternal descendant of Jane. Enter in Doug Wood and Michael Kenning.

Now, I don’t want to give the whole story away here. Doug wrote a wonderful piece explaining everything, with charts and everything!

You can read more at his website Tangled Wood, and see a picture of the beautiful Imogene!

02/17/2016

Back on July 8, 1876, on page four, the Spirit of the South newspaper (Rockingham, North Carolina) printed a small and humorous article that had been in several newspapers across the country:

Thirty years ago, a young man entered the city of New York in an almost penniless condition, and without a single acquaintance in the great wilderness of houses. To-day, his name is known wherever humanity dwells. It is spoken in every hamlet, is heard in every city, and is as familiar to the worker in the mines as his brother in the mills, and where language is known and ideas expressed, the name of this penniless, unknown and uncouth lad of thirty years ago is uttered. It was John Smith.

Many genealogists have had the pleasure of tracking down a John Smith at some point, and I’m sure there are many who have a John Smith as their brick wall. And for years (decades) in my husband’s family, John B Smith has been a brick wall. Until two months ago.

I honestly cannot for the life of me figure out how I found John B. Up until December no one was sure where he was buried, where he had died, when he had died, etc. I wrote about him back in July of 2012 and now I can give further info on him!!!!

According to his headstone in Mount Olivet United Methodist Church Cemetery in Hunts Mill, Chesterfield County, South Carolina, John B Smith was born in 1822 in Brunswick County, North Carolina to parents William and Henrietta Smith. John B died on November 2, 1898 in Chesterfield County, South Carolina.

BUT, I had to check to make sure that was really him, right? A quick search, and some speed-reading convinced me I had found the elusive John B Smith, husband of Harriet Grant, father of nine children (possibly ten, but one needs confirmation).

According to the Estate Records, Cases 638-757, 1865-1927; Chesterfield County, South Carolina Wills and Probate Records (1670-1980) on Ancestry:

John B Smith, case #640

…The undersigned respectfully shows to this court

That John B Smith died intestate at his home in said county and state on the 2nd Nov 1898 having a small personal estate of about the value of Fifty-five dollars… (5 Nov 1898)

Guardian Bond papers found in John B’s estate file mention the names of Daniel Labon Grant, Annie Jane Grant, and Loyal (actually Lowell) Tate Grant, the children of Henry Harrison Grant and Sarah Thomas. Henry was the son of Jeremiah Grant and grandson of Malachi Grant. As far as is known, Harriet Grant is the daughter of Malachi (I just need something as absolute to prove it to myself). Also mentioned in the Guardian Bond are DB (Daniel Baity-sp?) and Flora A Grant. DB happens to also be a son of Jeremiah Grant.

I can’t pretend to know why those guardian papers were in John B Smith’s estate file, as his name does not appear on any of them. There is mention of claims to Jeremiah Grant’s estate in regards to the children, so I did go through his papers to see if John B’s name appears anywhere. No luck.

ANYWAY, if the Grants appearing in John B Smith’s estate papers isn’t proof enough, considering he married a Grant who is related to those Grants, then I don’t know how else to convince a person. And let’s not forget to mention the estate of John B’s brother-in-law.

Moving back to John B’s parents, William and Henrietta Smith. After I had posted found information on the John B Smith Descendants Facebook page, another Smith descendant took off with finding more information. Isabelle posted:

Looks like William Smith was born c. 1789 and Henrietta was born c. 1795 bith in NC. The 1860 census shows them in North West District, Brunswick Co. William Smith b 1843 and Martha J. Wallace b 1844 are listed in the same house.

An Update on John B. Smith's parents and siblings:

As far as I've been able to find out so far, William and Henrietta Smith had the following children:

01/23/2016

I have been staring at this obituary for a bit now, and finally decided to pull up some information that my Cathey cousin, Tracey, had sent to me. I finally figured some stuff out, but it definitely left me with an important question.

The first problem I came across a few years ago is what I found in Reflections From Our Past: a Pictorial History of Houston County, Tennessee (2001), page 257:

William Glenn Cathey was born 1857 in Stewart County, died July 6, 1906, in Houston County, Tennessee, and is buried in the Nolan Cemetery, Hurricane Creek Mills, Tennessee. He married Mary Elizabeth Summers in 1888 in Houston County. William Glenn and Lizzie had five children:

Written down in Lizzie’s book (that was hand-copied by her daughter Maggie) is that William Glenn was born June 12, 1851. We know it wasn’t that early, so I’m wondering if she made a mistake. Or it may have been misread (I sure wish we could find the original!). She also writes that William Glenn died on June 6, 1906 in Humphreys County. Which makes total sense due to the date of the obituary.

Now, before I go any further, I also want to point out that Lizzie’s records and the 1900 census state that she and William Glenn were married in August 1888 in Houston County. As I have posted before, they were married August 26, 1889 in Houston County. And what is more interesting is that her oldest son Riley Leonard was born October 19, 1889 – nearly two months after their wedding. So keeping that in mind, from the June 8, 1906 edition of The Tennessean (Nashville), page 6:

WAVERLY, Tenn., June 7.-(Special.)- William Cathey, of Big Hurricane Creek, died last evening, aged 45 years. His wife and five children survive him.

So, this tells us that he did actually die on June 6, not July 6, and that he was 45 years old, placing him born in or around 1861. This also helps to confirm that the overgrown and hidden Nolan Cemetery on Hurricane Creek is the burial place of William Glenn (click here).

The most oft posted picture of the family shows Acra, Arlee, Lizzie, William Glenn, Katie, Ludie, and baby Willie. Willie was born in August of 1905. And Acra had said that his father died of pneumonia. The fact that William Glenn is standing apart, and looking quite gaunt, from the family leads me to believe he was quite ill when it was taken, so very shortly before his death. The photograph does not show Riley, however. Which leads to this question now:

Did Riley Cathey die? There are family stories that Riley a) ran away from home, never to be heard of again, and b) died during WWI.

A Riley Cathey (Cathers?) is found living and working for a family in Gibson County in 1910. He is the same age as Riley, but disappears after that census. And looking through (what is left of) WWI draft registration cards and records show no Riley and/or Leonard Cathey.

Maybe Riley wasn’t really a Cathey? Could he have been the child of another man? Lizzie, a few years after William Glenn’s death had a daughter Maggie out of wedlock, but she did marry William Green Smith (Maggie’s father… I guess? Maggie was born February 28, 1910 and Bill Green married Lizzie on August 6, 1911). Perhaps there is a possibility that Riley found out and ran away, disowning his family?

Or, and this is based on the obituary, is it possible that Riley died in Arkansas, on the way back to Tennessee from Arkansas, or when they return to Tennessee?

01/18/2016

I have been working on identifying men in a photograph with Jerome E Richards, and I discovered I may have to turn to newspapers for possible identification (the photo is from a convention). Along the way I remembered that Newspapers.com has offered an upgrade from their basic subscription to a subscription that offers papers that are still under copyright. And within those papers I found Jerome’s obituary.

Some things of note:

1. According to the obituary Jerome died of dropsy. According to his death certificate he died of cirrhosis of the liver. After some research I discovered that the cirrhosis could have caused dropsy, in which case you’d think that the death certificate would have said “Cause of Death was as follows: Dropsy. Contributory: Cirrhosis of Liver.”

2. A new way to spell DeMumbrie/Demonbruen! (spoiler: Demurry”")

3. I don’t know if the three initials for Jerome, Jr or wrong or not. Lucky for me, I have someone I can ask!

4. I can’t help but wonder if Jerome, Sr and Jerome, Jr actually had the middle name of Edmund/Edmond, and not Edward. On Jerome, Sr’s death certificate, Jerome, Jr provided the information. He said Jerome, Sr’s father was Edward Richards, yet we already know it was Edmond/Edmund. Just a thought.

Read away!

From August 15, 1922 issue of The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee).

PROMINENT SHELBY CO. MAN DIES AT MEMPHIS

Jerome Edwards Richards Is Victim of Dropsy’s Ravages.

(Special to the The Tennessean.)

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Aug. 14. – Surrounded by his immediate family, Jerome Edward Richards, poll tax collector, and one of Shelby County’s most prominent political figures, died at 1:50 o’clock this morning at this residence, 493 Lucy avenue. Dropsy was the contributing cause.

Mr. Richards had lived in Memphis 40 years and each of these were milestones will marked with usefulness.

He was born in Crittenden County, Ark., February 24, 1858. He was former chief of police here and served as criminal court clerk for 1902 until 1914. He was appointed poll tax collector in 1919.

At the outbreak of the World War Mr. Richards attempted to get into service, but on account of his age the government would not take him, so he went to Nashville and offered his services in the construction of the Old Hickory powder plant.

Mr. Richards married Miss Minnie Demurry at the Central Baptist church and they have four children, Judge J. E. R. Richards, and Bluford Richards, Clegg D. Richards and Mrs. J. Paul Stalls, all residing in Memphis.

11/10/2015

I love when I find new articles about my ancestors! This one concerns the death of a “bad guy” and my 2nd great-grandfather Jerome E Richards.

From the May 26, 1911 issue of The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee), p. 6:

In the Hour of Need.

John, alias “Punch,” Wilson died in Memphis the other day – died in the county poorhouse, to be exact. Tuberculosis carried him off. “Punch” was one of the bad men of Memphis. He had committed more crimes than one. But when he approached the great divide but one dread possessed him: he feared to lie in Potter’s field. The friends of other days had deserted him, all but a few. They knew where he was; they knew his end was approaching. As the shadows began to lengthen about Wilson’s bedside, the great dread of a pauper’s grave grew stronger and stronger; and as a last resort he told those about him to inform Jerome Richards when death came. Richards was not a personal friend, he was not an associate – but “Punch” knew his man. When the Pale Horseman called and Wilson was dead Jerome Richards was told. Then the big heart of the ex-police chief and present criminal court clerk was touched. He ordered that Wilson have a decent burial, and he told the undertakers to see to it and send him the bill.

“I never admired the character of ‘Punch’ Wilson,” said Mr. Richards, “but death settles all earthly scores and makes us all equal. If he can fix it all right with his Maker at the judgment, I am satisfied. Death wipes out everything so far as I am concerned, and my only hope is that he may know that his last request was complied with.”

No man who knows expected Jerome Richards to do otherwise or say less. Possibly he is not a saint; but his heart overflows with the milk of human kindness, and, after all, that is the true Christian spirit.

Below are the death records for John “Punch” Wilson (click to enlarge).

UPDATE!

I found a picture of John “Punch” Wilson in the December 16, 1908 issue of The Tennessean (Nashville), p 6:

10/28/2015

I’m pretty thrilled over this find! It is a mention of my earliest Richards in Jones County, North Carolina.

From the December 20, 1790 edition of The Encyclopedian Instructor (Edenton, North Carolina), page 3:

I state to correct certain patents, or grants in the described, where there have been errors by the surveyor or in making the returns, or by the secretary issuing the same.…for making conformable to the plan the second course of a tract of land lying in Jones county, formerly Craven, granted by patent to John Richards, bearing date the 24th day of November, 1738, containing 300 acres on both sides of Trent river.

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